The Cozy Mystery List Blog

Cozy Mystery (and Other Favorite) Books, Movies, and TV

Cozy Mystery Site Reader Questions – April 2019 Edition

It’s been a while since I’ve had a good batch of questions… but longer-term readers will know that I do get a number of them, and many boil down to “I read this book a long time ago and can’t remember the author…” Some of these I can help, others are either something I haven’t read, or the clues aren’t ones that I recognize. So, now’s when I turn to you, the site readers! If you have a good idea of what may be an answer to one of the below

From Lee:

Looking for a crime novel where the female lead protagonist is an archeologist or paleontologist, not really sure. Old people are being killed in a family because of some manuscripts…

EDIT: Elle suggested this could be an entry in Elizabeth Peters‘s Amelia Peabody Mystery Series. Or MaryBeth suggested it might be the Ruth Galloway Series by Elly Griffiths. Kristi suggested it might be the Arcadia Jones Mystery Series by Joshua Elliot James. And LaVerne had two possible suggestions – the Temperance Brennan Series by Kathy Reich, or the Diane Chamberlain Mystery Series by Beverly Connor.

From Donna:

Hi, a couple years back I was perusing the Brewster Country Store and bought a 3 new paperback book mystery series by a female Cape Cod author. I think the premise might have been a murder…

EDIT: Nancy and JoAnn both suggested this could possibly Leslie Meier, who used to live on Cape Cod. Ginger suggested it could be Cynthia Riggs. Ginger also suggested it could be the Sherlock Holmes Bookshop Series by Vicki Delaney. Another suggesion, by Kath, was that it could be the Asey Mayo Cape Cod Mystery Series by Phoebe Atwood Taylor.

From Margi:

… I was hoping you could help me find an author. Her books include an older lady in in England(?). She has her dog who goes with her everywhere and an old car she has named (?). She shares her home with a photographer, and she helps in a thrift store…

EDIT: Many people have mentioned that this might be the Cornish Mystery Series by Carola Dunn. I don’t remember her naming her car, but it’s been a while since I’ve read any books in this particular series.

Alternately, Marie suggested this one could be the Ellie Quicke Mystery Series by Veronica Heley.

From Juke:

I’m looking for some books I really enjoyed (can’t remember titles or author!) that featured a female caterer who had a professional refrigerator/freezer in her home kitchen. Also, she was constantly pouring herself espressos from an espresso machine in her kitchen…

EDIT: Many readers have mentioned that this is likely Diane Mott Davidson‘s Goldy Schulz Mystery Series… I have read all the books in this really good series, but I confess to not remembering the espressos.

So, if you’ve got an answer to one of these questions, please be sure to bring it up in the comments! I’ll add suggestions as they come in, and hopefully we can help reunite these people with their former favorite Cozies.

*****Thank you to all of you who have posted comments answering Juke’s question about the professional refrigerator/freezer and the espressos-drinking sleuth. It turns out that Juke is looking for Diane Mott Davidson‘s Goldy Schulz Mystery Series.  I have read all the books in this really good series, but I confess to not remembering the espressos. Yikes!

Thanks, again.

Cozy Mystery News – April 2019

Wow, I’ve got a lot of great looking Cozy mystery news by site authors! I’m going to jump right into it. (Or should that be “right into them”?)

First up, Mike Befeler will be releasing a sequel to his novel Court Trouble, making that former stand-alone novel into the beginning of a series – the Platform Tennis Mystery Series. In this new mystery, titled Paradise Court, retired entrepreneur and amateur sleuth Mark Yeager will be on vacation on Maui with his wife (Sophie) when they discover a dead body on a pickleball court. Mike Befeler is also the author of the Paul Jacobson Geezer-Lit Mystery Series and the Millicent Hargrove Mystery Series.

Next up, Bethany Blake will be putting out three more entries in her Lucky Paws Petsitting Mystery Series. This means that we will be able to tag along with Daphne Templeton, a pet sitter in a lakeside village, as she sleuths out the culprits in Sylvan Creek. These upcoming entries will bring the series up to a total of eight entries! (That’s good news for those of us who are patiently waiting for the fifth in this series – Something Borrowed, Something Mewed!)

If like me, you follow V.M. Burns‘ Mystery Bookshop Mystery Series, then you are going to be very, very happy that she has signed to release three more entries in this series. That’s right, Samantha Washington (Sam) will be sleuthing up a storm! Not only will this amateur sleuth be minding the business of running her bookstore, but she’ll also be minding the business of solving crimes in North Harbor, on the shores of Lake Michigan. V.M. Burns also writes two other mystery series:  the Dog Club Mystery Series (featuring Lilly Echosby, a member of a dog club in Tennessee) and the RJ Franklin Mystery Series. (RJ Franklin Jr., a detective in St. Joseph, Indiana.)

It seems like the Cozy Mystery news just keeps getting better and better! For all of us who are fans of Devon Delaney‘s Cook-Off Mystery Series, there is great news! Devon has gotten the green light to release two more mysteries in her series. This means that Sherry Frazelle will be cooking competitively while finding time to sleuth out more criminals. The third mystery, Guilty as Charred, will be released soon so with two more on top of that one, we’ll be sure to have a lot more mystery-solving with Sherry and her Jack Russell, Chutney. Also, we will get more recipes from Devon Delaney – who happens to have won many cook-off competitions!

Vicki Delany will be starting a new series, the Tea by the Sea Mystery Series. This series will star a young woman and her grandmother running a tea room on Cape Cod. Their tea room will have a terrific “Cozy” setting: a Victorian home! Delany is also the author of the very popular Sherlock Holmes Bookshop Mystery Series and the Year-Round Christmas Mystery Series. Vicki also writes the Ashley Grant Mystery Series, the Ray Robertson Mystery Series, (the not-so Cozy) Constable Molly Smith Mystery Series, and the Klondike Mystery Series. Oh, and as if all that wasn’t enough, Vicki Delaney is also known as Eva Gates, the author of the very popular Lighthouse Library Mystery Series!

Next up, Joanne Fluke will be putting out another entry in her Hannah Swensen Mystery Series, starring the manager of The Cookie Jar, a popular bakery in Lake Eden. This novel will be titled Christmas Cupcake Murder, and will be the 25th entry in the series! (Hallmark movie fans are likely quite familiar with this particular series, as several entries had movie versions made on the Hallmark Movies & Mysteries Channel!) Also, here’s some more great Joanne Fluke, Leslie Meier, and Laura Levine: these three Cozy Mystery authors will be releasing an anthology which I describe on my Soon to Be Released page as: “Christmas Sweets: This is an anthology which includes: The Twelve Desserts of Christmas (by Joanne Fluke), Nightmare on Elf Street (by Laura Levine), and The Christmas Thief (by Leslie Meier). It also includes holiday recipes.” Yum!

Karen Harper, a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author, will be starting a new suspense trilogy which is set in Alaska. Karen is a former high school teacher (English) and also a college English prof. I don’t, as yet, know the title of her new series nor do I know the first book’s title – but I’ll let you know as soon as I find out. She’s also the author of the South Shores Mystery Series, the Cold Creek Mystery Series (also a suspense series, not so Cozy), the Home Valley Amish Mystery Series, the Maplecreek Mystery Series, and the Elizabeth I Mystery Series.

Finally, Meg Macy will be releasing two more entries in her delightful Teddy Bear Mystery Series, which stars teddy bear shop and factory manager Sasha Silverman. This will bring the series to a total of five entries. Though this is Meg’s only solo Cozy series, she’s also one half of the author team working under the name D.E. Ireland (the other being Sharon Farrow), the team responsible for the Eliza Doolittle & Henry Higgins Mystery Series.

Yikes, that was quite a lot, wasn’t it? I sure hope everyone has at least one piece of good news about a favorite author.

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